Clefs

Commonly used Clefs (Treble, Bass, Alto, Tenor) can be found in the Clefs palette in the Basic workspace. For a more complete range, see the Clefs palette in the Advanced workspace (see image below).

Add a clef

Add/change clef at the beginning of a measure

• Select a measure or an existing clef and click a clef symbol in the palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a clef from the palette onto a measure or an existing clef.

Add/change a mid-measure clef

• Select a note or rest, then click a clef in the palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
• Drag a clef from the palette onto a note or rest
• If a mid-measure clef is already present you can also:
  • Select the clef and click a clef in the palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).
  • Drag a new clef from the palette onto the clef.

Note: "Mid-staff" clefs are always smaller than the main system clef.

Example: In the following image, the top staff starts with a treble clef and switches immediately to bass clef, then after a note and a rest, changes back to treble clef.

Note: Changing a clef does not change the pitch of any note. Instead, the notes move to preserve pitch. If you want, you can use Transposition in conjunction with a clef change.

Remove a clef

• Select a clef and press Del.

Courtesy clefs

When a clef change occurs at the beginning of a system, a courtesy clef will be generated at the end of the previous system.

To show or hide all courtesy clefs:

1. From the menu, select Format→Style...→Page;
2. Check/uncheck "Create courtesy clefs."

It is also possible to show/hide courtesy clefs on a case-by-case basis:

1. "Create courtesy clefs" should already be ticked in the "General" menu (see above);
2. Select a clef and tick/untick "Show courtesy" in the Inspector.

Hide clefs

Display clef only in the first measure (for all staves)

1. From the menu, select Format→Style...→ Page;
2. Uncheck "Create clef for all systems."

Display clef only in the first measure (for a particular staff)

1. Right-click on the staff (Mac: Ctrl-click) , select Staff properties... and uncheck "Show clef;"
2. Open the master palette and select the "Symbols" section;
3. Drag and drop a clef from the master palette onto the first measure of the staff; OR select the first note and click a clef in the master palette (double-click in versions prior to 3.4).

Note: This option may be useful to TAB users who do not want the clef to repeat on every subsequent line.

Hide all clefs in a particular staff

1. Right-click on the staff (Mac: Ctrl-click) , and select Staff properties...;
2. Uncheck "Show clef."